When “Delgo," an animated movie about a boy’s love for a princess from a rival race, hit theaters last weekend, it shattered records — but not the kind its director had hoped. “Delgo" is the worst-performing film in recent history to open in wide release.
"I’m befuddled," says Marc Adler, who wrote, directed and produced the movie, his first major foray into the business.

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The rising amount of money poured into movie marketing appears to have swamped “Delgo." Independent labels at the major studios spent an average of $25.7 million marketing a film last year, up 44% from 2006 and more than double what was spent in 2002, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. That has far outpaced the 44% growth in production costs from 2002 through last year. In response to the recession, studios have cut the number of films they release but haven’t cut back significantly on marketing costs per film.

The overall marketing budget for “Delgo" has been estimated at less than $20 million — not even close to what is spent to market similar animated feature films like Walt Disney Co.’s “Bolt" and DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa."

[WSJ]